The Replacement Bridesmaid

by Laurie Ralston

  The couples paired off as directed. Coyle and Jill were situated in the middle of the other couples. They stood side-by-side, not touching. Even so, Jill could feel his body warmth invading her space. She shivered from the thought of how warm his body must be to give off that kind of heat.

  “Are you cold?” he asked.

  “No, no. I’m fine,” she smiled up at him, planning on just giving him a quick look, but finding her eyes locking onto his. After a few seconds, he broke the stare and returned his attention to his mother.

  Bridy showed them how link arms, walk down the aisle in a slow gait and leave space for the couples coming down the aisle. They did a couple of quick rehearsals of just walking up the aisle. Jill had her hand tucked up around Coyle’s arm and he unconsciously rested his other hand on hers. He didn’t seem phased at all but she was acutely aware of every breath he took, every muscle that moved.

  “Now you two, Coyle, come on down,” Bridy ordered.

  They walked slowly towards to the pastor, not looking at each other. When they reached the small platform where the bride and groom would stand, Jill slipped her had from Coyle’s arm and they took the places on opposite sides.

  Bridy made them practice the entire ceremony, allowing the pastor to take over when it came to the ceremony itself. Jill stood next to Tara, sneaking looks at Coyle through her lowered eyelashes. She really was acting like a giddy school girl, she chastised herself. But she couldn’t help herself. She hadn’t felt like this in years.

  When the rehearsal was over, they all proceeded back to the hotel, where a dinner was set up out on the terrace. Music played through the hotel sound system, kids ran between tables, everyone ate and drank and laughed. Jill for the most part was able to stay away from Coyle, although she was aware of his presence nearly every second. When she did come near him, Coyle was friendly, but not overly so. Jill knew it was best to not pursue her feelings about him; still it was difficult to ignore such strong emotion. If she only knew exactly what it was she was feeling, she might be able to handle it better. But one moment she thought he was a selfish rake and the next he was lovable and sweet. It was driving her nuts.

  In her effort to avoid Coyle, Jill talked to as many of Mary’s relatives as she could. She met aunts and uncles and cousins and cousins’ kids. They were all delightful and incredibly nice to her.

  It became late and the family members began to drift off to their rooms. Jill found she was exhausted and excused herself, returning to her room quietly. She loved this family, loved this place, but all she wanted to do is to fall into the big soft bed and sleep. She changed into her soft flannel pajamas and crawled under the feather comforter. She’d been afraid that her thoughts of Coyle, and of James as well, would keep her awake, but within minutes she was asleep, in a deep dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 14

  The day of the wedding dawned bright and cloudless. Jill had left the curtains open and the sun came streaming in to light up her room. She stretched and checked the clock. Twenty after eight. There was a wedding day breakfast at nine, so she climbed out of bed and took a shower. Right before nine, there was a knock at the door. This time she expected it was Coyle and was a little disappointed when she opened the door to find Tara.

  “Come on, girl,” Tara said, stomping past Jill into the hotel room. “The family is waiting for us downstairs.”

  Jill was glad Tara didn’t seem to notice her disappointment. “I’m ready now. I just need to put my shoes on.”

  “Doesn’t need to fancy, Jill. We’re just chowing for a while, then getting ready the wedding,” Tara said. “Thank God Bridy doesn’t have a list of jobs for us. It’s a blessing to be the out-of-towners.”

  They went downstairs into the small dining area where the family had gathered for breakfast. Jill nonchalantly looked around the room, but didn’t see Coyle anywhere. She didn’t want to alert anyone of her interest in him, so she didn’t ask where he was.

  While the breakfast was leisurely and full of laughter, the rest of the day before the ceremony flew by in a flash. There was the hairdresser visit to braid and put lavender and greenery their hair and the emergency runs back to Killarney for forgotten items. Lunch was deli meats and cheeses served with fresh croissants, to be eaten in between busy times.

  The ceremony was to begin at three in the afternoon. By two, everyone was dressed and the photographer was arranging groups out on the lawn for portraits. Everyone was smiling and joking around with each other. Jill, for once in her life, didn’t feel left out. Coyle was there, generally avoiding her, until the time when the wedding party gathered to be photographed. In one of the pictures, the photographer put Coyle right behind Jill, gently pushing her back. Coyle took her elbow in his big hand as instructed by the photographer. His touch was warm and it seemed to flow from her arm throughout her body. As she stood there, smiling into the camera, she wondered how she could feel such an attraction, such a physical attraction, to this man she barely knew.

  When it was time for the ceremony to begin, the bridesmaids and groomsmen lined up as rehearsed. Coyle again put his hand over hers as it was tucked in under his arm. The music began and they took their turns walking slowly up the aisle. When they reach the end, the pairs split, the women stepping to the left, the men stepping to the right.

  Where as Coyle pretended to ignore Jill during the rehearsal, he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off her during the ceremony. Every time she looked towards him, he was gazing at her with a serious look on his face. She looked away each time, feeling herself blush. What was he doing? He was being so strange, first fun and jokey and friendly, until the end of the horse ride, and since then, very serious and quiet. She couldn’t figure him out.

  The ceremony was sweet, with lots of smile and laughs, and when it was done, Teagan and Sean were announced husband and wife, and they all went back down the aisle to the sound of the small bells that were placed on each seat for the wedding goers to ring. They marched across the grass to the open area that was strung with ribbons on poles and tables and chairs for the early wedding dinner. There was a large area in the middle of the tables left open for dancing and off to one side a traditional Irish band was playing.

  Everyone milled around for a while. Teagan and Sean gathered everyone in the dancing area and Sean threw coins into the air over the guests – Jill later found out it was a custom called “grushie” and was supposed to bring the new couple good luck. Then they had their first dance as the guests receded to the sides of the dancing area. Sean and Teagan twirled and laughed for about half the song, then urged the rest of the wedding party onto the dance floor. The couples paired off until the only bridesmaid and groomsman left on the sidelines were Jill and Coyle.

  Coyle tilted his head a bit towards Jill.

  “I guess we’re supposed to dance,” he said.

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  Coyle took a couple of steps, then noticing Jill was standing still, he turned and held out his hand to her. “Well, come on, then.” He flashed the grin she hadn’t seen since the morning before.

  Jill smiled back at him and put her hand in his. They walked into the dancing crowd and he pulled her lightly towards him. He held his hand gently on her back as they danced, then suddenly, as the song shifted into a lively reel, he spun her out from him, and then back in. It took her about a minute, but she was able to match his tempo and then the real dancing began. She had taken dancing lessons to stave off the boredom back in Phoenix, after all. It was clear that Coyle knew his way around a dance floor. They spun and twirled and laughed their way through the song. At one point, the other dancers stopped and backed off to watch the two of them. Surrounded by the others clapping their hands and shouting encouragements, Jill felt alive and carefree.

  When the song ended, Jill laughed heartily, bending over at the waist to try and catch her breath. She straightened and began to head back to where she’d left her pint of beer, when Coyle caught her hand and made her stay. The next song
was a lovely ballad that Jill had never heard before. Coyle pulled her close. Even with her slight heels, he towered over her. She had to tilt her head back to look up at him. She decided not to bother and instead lay her head lightly on his chest. She swore she could hear his heart beating. And his smell; he gave off that warm male smell she had noticed the first night she’d arrived in Killarney. It was heaven.

  Eventually, that song ended, too, and they stood apart, awkwardly smiling at each other.

  “Thank you for the dance, Miss Jill,” Coyle said, polite yet a little silly.

  “No, thank you,” Jill said, curtsying in front of him.

  They both laughed.

  Coyle looked over at the bar. “I think it’s time for a pint.” He looked back at Jill. “You want one?”

  “No, I think I just need a big glass of water right now,” she said. “A rain check on the pint?”

  “Surely,” he said, still smiling as he left her standing there.

  Dinner was served soon, Coyle sitting at a different table for the meal. Jill felt him looking at her and their eyes would meet briefly every once in a while. The people sitting at her table were all native Irish – there were a few Americans at the wedding, but not many – and they had her in stitches as they recalled funny family memories. It seemed that everyone was related in some way. Everyone but her. Still, she had that feeling again, that she did belong here, that she was with family, that she wasn’t just the replacement bridesmaid.

  The band continued to play as people danced. Jill was standing towards the back of the party, near the hotel, when she felt her hand being grabbed and pulled. She turned to find Coyle.

  “What?” she asked, confused.

  “Just come with me. I want to show you something.” He pulled her off to the edge of the open field and through a group of trees and bushes. Jill went along, a little dubious about his intentions.

  When they stopped in a small grotto-like area, Jill saw before her a life size statue of a small boy feeding a deer out of his hand. It was so lifelike that Jill started for a second. She realized what she was looking at, laughed and moved closer to get a good look at the figures. Everything was beautiful and very sweet. She looked around some more and saw a stone bench nearby. She sat on the bench and Coyle sat down beside her.

  “I can’t quite figure you out, Coyle,” she said, gesturing around to where he had brought her.

  He laughed. “I used to come here as a kid, before Muckross turned into a hotel. It was all a national park then. It was a great place for kids to run wild and we did,” he said, looking around.

  Jill nodded. She could still hear the music of the wedding band playing in the distance. They sat in silence for a few moments.

  “It’s a really nice wedding,” Jill finally said.

  “Yes. It is.”

  “So what about you?” she asked.

  “What about me?”

  “Why aren’t you married?”

  “Hmm…” he replied, slowly. “I was once.”

  Jill turned to him. “You were?”

  He nodded. “A long time ago, when I was in my twenties. Married my college sweetheart.”

  Jill’s heart tugged. “What happened?”

  “Good question.” Coyle shifted slightly on the bench. “We just grew up, I think.” He shook his head. “We were young and didn’t know anything about life. We thought love would carry us through anything. But it didn’t. I went to college and she didn’t. I spent my evenings studying and she spent hers out with friends. In the end, we just didn’t know each other anymore.”

  Jill nodded. “You went to college?”

  “Trinity in Dublin. Studied the classics. Great for an education, not so great for a career.” They both laughed. “I teach at a post-primary school in Killarney.”

  “Post-primary?” she asked.

  “Um… same as high school in America.”

  “Ahh…” A teacher. Nice. “And you like it?”

  “I do, I do like it. The kids are terrific.”

  “But you didn’t have any of your own.”

  “No.” He sighed. “Didn’t have any with Sharon and never met any one after that I’d want to have a kid with.”

  They sat in silence again for a few minutes. Then Coyle stood.

  “Well, I guess we’d better get back,” he said, offering his hand to help her up.

  “Yes, I guess so,” she affirmed, taking his hand and standing, and they left the little grotto and made their way back to the wedding party, chatting casually now as they walked.

  Coyle smiled a goodbye as the reached the party, then he turned and headed to the bar. Jill returned to the table where she’d been sitting and spent some time talking with the others there. Tara suddenly appeared and plopped down in the seat beside her.

  “Hello!”

  Tara had been enjoying the party thoroughly, it was obvious, her face flushed and her grin a mile wide.

  “So what were you and Coyle doing off in the woods?” she asked, leering a bit at Jill.

  “Nothing, nothing, just talking.”

  “Mm-mm,” Tara nodded. “You like him.”

  “No! No.” Jill shook her head furiously. Just then she caught sight of him dancing with a teenage cousin. “No,” she said again, this time less convincingly.

  “Sure—“ Tara laughed. “I don’t blame you, he’s a wonderful guy. If he wasn’t my cousin...“

  “Tara, I’m married,” Jill said as she picked up her glass of red wine which the waiter had just refilled and gulped it down, peering in the glass when she was gone and guiltily wiping her napkin across her lips.

  “Not so much from what Mary tells me.” Tara grinned at her.

  “But I am,” Jill protested vaguely, still watching Coyle spin the young girl around as they danced. The girl was giggling as she danced and talked with him.

  “Right…” Tara grabbed a bottle of wine out of a waiter’s hands as he passed by. “We’ll take that,” she said and used it to fill up both their glasses. She held up her glass. “Here’s to Irish romance!”

  Jill couldn’t help but laugh. She raised her glass and clinked it on Tara’s, they both threw back their heads and emptied their glasses.

  Chapter 15

  The reception transformed into a good old Irish party. It grew cooler as the afternoon slid into evening. The party moved into a room of the hotel, where, instead of the traditional Irish band which had played during dinner, there was a disc jockey playing recent music. The older wedding goers sat in a corner opposite the music and dance floor, drinking whiskies and Guinness and smoking skinny cigars. The younger people, including Jill and Tara, danced and drank more wine.

  The disc jockey took a break after a while and one of the musicians from before, who was a friend of the family so he’d stayed even after he was done playing outside, pulled his fiddle out and began to play some reels. The older folks joined the younger ones and they all danced together.

  Jill saw Tara speaking to the fiddler after a song. What is she up to? Jill wondered.

  She didn’t have to wait for long. Tara stood on the dance floor and hollered to get everyone’s attention.

  “Hey, hey! I’ve got a special treat for everyone! My friend Jill Owens is going to sing for us!”

  Jill stared at Tara. “What?”

  “Come on, Jill!” Tara waved her up to the dance floor.

  “No,” Jill said, but even as she shook her head, she was laughing and looking around at everyone.

  Encouragement rang out from the rest of the crowd.

  “Sing, Jill.”

  “Yes, please!”

  If she hadn’t had so much wine, Jill probably wouldn’t have done it. But she was feeling pretty good and had lost much of her inhibition. After all, this was her secret dream – to be able to stand in front of an audience and belt out a song. She’d probably never have a chance like this again. So she stood up and made her way to the dance floor, to the applause of the wedding goers.
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  “What am I supposed to sing?” she whispered to Tara.

  “I told them to play Gypsy Rover. You sang it about a million times in the car on the way from Dublin, I figured you had to know it by now!”

  Jill smiled at her friend. “Okay, what the heck.” She nodded at the fiddler, who began to play the song. It was a traditional song that everyone knew, but they let Jill sing it by herself.

  A gypsy rover came over the hill

  Down through the valley so shady.

  He whistled and he sang 'til the green woods rang

  And he won the heart of a lady.

  Her voice was clear and sweet and everyone who heard her couldn’t help but smile. When the chorus began, they all sang with her:

  Ah-dee-doo-ah-dee-doo-dah-day

  Ah-dee-doo-ah-dee-day-dee

  He whistled and he sang 'til the green woods rang

  And he won the heart of a lady.

  Jill sang the verses of the song alone, then was joined for each chorus. Tara spun her around during the choruses as if they were square dancing, both of them laughing as they tried to sing.

  When the song was done, the entire place roared with clapping and hoots of compliments. Jill beamed, flushed and winded, but happy to be in her element. She looked around the room at the friendly people who had welcomed her like she was one of their own and saw Coyle leaning up against a wall in the back, clapping for her as well. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

  Jill and Tara sat at a table, their shoes off and their feet propped up on chairs, drinking wine, talking, and laughing. It was getting late and Jill was starting to fade. Most of the guests had already left. Teagan and Sean had gone up to their room an hour before and the DJ was packing up as well.

  “I think I’m done,” said Tara. Jill agreed and they picked up their shoes, letting them dangle from their fingertips as they said their goodnights to the remaining guests at their table. Coyle unexpectedly appeared as they began to pick their way through the reception tables.